| Category | Touring cars |
|---|---|
| Country | Europe |
| Inaugural season | 1963 |
| Folded | 2004 |
| Drivers | 41 (2004) |
| Teams | 13 (2004) |
| Constructors | 6 (2004) |
| Last Drivers' champion |  Andy Priaulx |
| Last Makes' champion | BMW |
TheEuropean Touring Car Championship was an internationaltouring car racing series organised by theFIA. It had two incarnations, the first one between 1963 and 1988, and the second between 2000 and 2004. In 2005 it was superseded by theWorld Touring Car Championship, and replaced by theEuropean Touring Car Cup between 2005 and 2017 when became also defunct.
TheEuropean Touring Car Challenge, as it was originally known,[1] was created in 1963 by Willy Stenger at the behest of the FIA. Cars competed under FIA Group 2[1] Improved Touring Car regulations[2] which allowed a variety oftouring cars of different sizes and engine displacements to race together, from the smallFiat 600 andMini to the largeJaguar Mark 2 andMercedes-Benz 300SEIn 1963 races andhillclimbing events atNürburgring,Mont Ventoux,Brands Hatch,Mallory Park,Zolder,Zandvoort,Timmelsjoch and even in the Népliget (People's Park) inBudapest counted towards the ETCC, which was won by GermanPeter Nöcker and his Jaguar.In 1968, the regulations were changed to allowGroup 5 cars to participate,[3] however these highly modified Special Touring Cars[4] would only be eligible for two years.
In 1970 the series name was changed from European Touring Car Challenge toEuropean Touring Car Championship.[5][6][7] Group 2 again became the principle category[8] although Group 2 regulations were now much more liberal in nature than the old Group 2.[9]
Following the1973 oil crisis the next two seasons had few entrants. It was only in 1977 that the situation was normalised with the return of factory teams. Rules allowed Group 2 and Group 1B "National" cars to compete together, withBMW 3.0 Coupé CSL andCapri RS remaining the most competitive entries.
In 1982, the FIA replaced Groups 1 and 2 withGroup N andGroup A. The first one was mainly ignored by the ETCC entrants, all cars going the Group A route. BMW and Alfa Romeo prepared regular touring cars for the championship, but it was the big-enginedTom Walkinshaw Racing preparedJaguar XJS andRover 3500 Vitesse that would be more competitive in the years to come, fighting against theBMW 635 CSi, the turbochargedVolvo 240T andFord Sierra Cosworth as well as (from 1986) Australian manufacturerHolden and itsV8 poweredCommodore.
The championship was cancelled after the end of the 1988 season, due to escalating costs (a one-offWorld Touring Car Championship in 1987 also exacerbated the problem). By then, the FIA had allowed "Evolution" models to be homologated, and it was special cars such as theBMW M3 Evo andFord Sierra RS500 that dominated the grids and results.
TheMacau Guia Race, theSpa 24 Hours and the24 Hours Nürburgring were the only international touring car races during those years. With the success and popularity ofSupertouring in many national championships, the FIA organised the one-round Super Touring World Cup for these cars, between 1993 and 1995. In 1996, the FIA promoted theDTM, which already had races outside Germany in its calendar, to International Touringcar Championship (ITC), but once more escalating costs ended the series after two seasons.
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In 2000, theItalian Superturismo Championship was promoted toEuro STC. The series was made up mostly of Italian drivers from the former Italian Campeonato Superturismo and teams plus some other coming from the GermanSuper Tourenwagen Cup. In the first season of Euro STC, six rounds were in Italy while the other four were in Austria, (A1 Ring), Hungary (Hungaroring), Czech Republic (Brno) and Slovenia (Ljubljana). The series was very balanced with four drivers winning five races apiece (Giovanardi, Kox, Morbidelli and Colciago) with four manufacturers (Alfa Romeo, Honda, BMW, Audi). At the end of the year Giovanardi was able to win the title beating Kox in last round.
In 2001, this series became the FIA2001 European Super Touring Championship, with an extra class for Super Production cars alongside the mainSuper Touring class. As the former year also this one was very fought and attractive riveting thanks to the battle between Alfa drivers' Giovanardi and Larini and Honda driver Tarquini. Tarquini won 9 of 20 races, compared with the 3 victories each by Giovanardi and Larini, but lost the title to Giovanardi due to several retirements that he had during the season.
In 2002, due to high costs FIA decided to let Super Touring make way for the new classSuper 2000 and named the new series FIA ETCC, usingSuper 2000 rules. This new category provoked much interest and saw participation fromAlfa Romeo 156 GTA andBMW 320i,Volvo S60 andSEAT Toledo Cupra. Alfa Romeo won the first two championships withFabrizio Giovanardi andGabriele Tarquini while in the last season the title was won byAndy Priaulx and his BMW. The series became popular with the public due to the intense competition andEurosport live broadcasts. For this reason in 2005, the ETCC was promoted toWTCC status.
The European Touring Car title was given from 2005 until 2009 to a once a yearEuropean Touring Car Cup, with the best representatives from national championships running to Super 2000, Super Production and Super 1600 regulations in the Baltic States, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Russia, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
Starting in 2010 the ETCC will once again become a multi event racing series. Four events of two races each are set to be held in Portugal, Italy, Austria and Germany at theCircuito Vasco Sameiro in Braga, the Autodromo Bonara in Franciacorta, theSalzburgring in Salzburg and theMotorsport Arena Oschersleben in Oschersleben, respectively. However, on 25 Mar 2010,fiawtcc.com reported that the event in Germany was cancelled to avoid clashes with the German touring car series.[10]
| Year | Championship | Independents class (Michelin Trophy) | Series name | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drivers | Manufacturers | Drivers | Teams | ||
| 2000 |  Fabrizio Giovanardi (Alfa Romeo 156 D2) | Alfa Romeo | N/A | N/A | European Super Touring Cup |
| 2001 | Fabrizio Giovanardi (Supertouring)(Alfa Romeo 156 D2) Peter Kox (Super Production) (BMW 320i) | Alfa Romeo | Sandro Sardelli (Nissan Primera Mk3 GT) (Supertouring Amateur) Norman Simon (BMW 320i) (Super Production Under 25) | Carly Motorsport | FIA European Super Touring Championship |
| 2002 | Fabrizio Giovanardi (Alfa Romeo 156 GTA) | Alfa Romeo | Fabrizio Giovanardi | N/A | FIA ETCC |
| 2003 | Gabriele Tarquini (Alfa Romeo 156 GTA) | BMW | Duncan Huisman (BMW 320i) | N/A | FIA ETCC |
| 2004 | Andy Priaulx (BMW 320i) | BMW | Tom Coronel (BMW 320i) | N/A | FIA ETCC |
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